WATANI International
8 March 2009
African heritage
In its recent meeting in Addis Ababa, the Board of Trustees of the African World Heritage Fund approved a project to form a preliminary list of African heritage. Egypt’s ambassador to UNESCO Shadya Qinawi said that the project, which was sponsored by Egypt, will cost $57,000.
Dropping a channel
Satellite operator Nilesat, partially owned by the government, has dropped a London-based station that has criticised Egyptian policies, the station said. Human rights and media groups condemned Nilesat’s move and said it could signal a crackdown on media freedom. Nilesat’s removal of the independently-owned al-Hiwar, for which no explanation was given, comes less than two months after Arab governments, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, adopted a satellite charter entrenching state control over airwaves in a region of some 300 million people.
Slash sugar imports
Egypt, the Middle East’s biggest sugar importer, expects to buy about 60 per cent less by 2012 as it swells State spending on production, said Ahmed El-Rakaybi, chairman of the state-run Food Industries Holding Co. Egypt imports 900,000 tons of sugar a year and wants that to drop to 350,000 tons by 2012, he said. “Currently, we are about 70 per cent self-sufficient in sugar,” he said. “By planting more beet, we may become 90 per cent self-sufficient in 2010 and 2011.” Egypt raised the price it pays for cane from local farmers by 9.9 percent last month in an effort to encourage more supply. The government is seeking to protect farmers after a decline in the price of raw sugar.
Producing sodium carbonate
Egypt and Turkey have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly establish a factory for manufacturing sodium carbonate in the industrial zone in North Sinai, at an investment of 450 million dollars. According to Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin the factory, which will eventually produce more than 600,000 tons of sodium carbonate annually, would secure 600 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs. Egypt’s share in the project stands at 70 percent. The factory will also produce heavy sodium carbonate and sodium silicate, used in the production of cement and textiles.
Women judges
Within the context of a vocational exchange programme, the British Council in Agouza has hosted a delegation of British female judges for a week to let them know about the Egyptian judiciary system and meet their Egyptian counterparts. A delegation of the Egyptian female judges paid a visit to England last summer to familiarise themselves with the role of British women in the judiciary.
New resort
Despite the gruelling financial crunch, a cooperation protocol was last week signed between al-Taameer company for real estate finance and the Red Sea Resort (RSR) company. Accordingly, Taameer would offer financing to clients who wish to purchase units in the Red Sea resort of Veranda Sahl Hasheesh currently under construction by RSR. Taameer is the first Egyptian company licensed to operate in real estate financing. RSR’s new project spreads out on 130,000 square metres south of Hurghada, overlooks golf a course to the north east, and includes 669 luxury residential units.